A funny thing happened this week.

Hey sportsfans! 

Last Tuesday afternoon the Lady Knights were looking for their first victory of the season at home in a non-conference matchup against 6A Chelsea Hornets (1-1). Historically not a strong team, the Hornets have won only 1-2 games each of the past few seasons while competing against some excellent big schools competition. This was a winnable game for the Good Guys. 

Unlike the previous two losses, the Black and Gold started off fast and put the visiting team on notice this was going to be a close game. Em, EB and Molly contributed early scores. Caroline, Katie and Rachel played some solid defense. The Lady Knights led in the first quarter and held the score close at 29-24 going into the break. EB hit exciting buckets at the buzzer ending the first quarter and close to the half. 

Em played hard on both ends of the court and only came out for a few minutes just after inadvertently being elbowed in the throat while fighting for a rebound. She split time between the point and shooter. One heads up play that our #3 had during the first half was when the ball hit off an opponent's knee and rolled directly at her while she was standing with one foot out of bounds under the basket. Em had the mental wherewithal to recognize not to touch the ball as it rolled between her legs out of bounds, thus giving the ball  to the Lady Knights.

Early during the second half was close with each team trading layups. Chelsea hit a couple of threes and continued to foul our guys on the other end of the court. The Lady Knights played solidly on both ends of the court, but missed the front end of too many one-and-ones. Em chipped in 4 points, while EB lead the scoring with 15. While the final on the scoreboard was another loss for the Lady Knights (0-3), the 35-30 score was indicative of a much better team effort.

 

 

 

Hopefully the girls will continue to work hard and focus on the upcoming conference games. The Chelsea game showed they are learning more about playing as a team while staying competitive in a game that victory was within reach. Now is a key time for the team leaders to pull the troops together and keep up the morale.

Friday night the team hosted 1A Westminster-Oak Mountain (0-1), a team that had a 13-12 record last season including two losses to the Lady Knights.  With Em at the President's Cup in Orlando this past weekend, the Black and Gold took home their first win of the season. Down 11 at the half, the Lady Knights (1-3) stormed back and sank their free-throws on the way to a 40-38 victory.

The 2015 Intercollegiate Women’s Lacrosse Coaches Association (IWLCA) President's Cup is an annual lacrosse tournament hosted at Disney's ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex. It coincides with the annual IWLCA meetings. The IWLCA is a membership-led nonprofit association representing the nation’s intercollegiate women’s lacrosse coaches within Division I, II & III of the NCAA. Hundreds of college coaches attend these tournament games. Leading up to the tourney Em was in communication with several interested coaches who were coming to watch her play.

The tournament was a great experience for Em. It helped her to size up her skills against some excellent competition from all over the country. On some teams virtually every member had a green armband, meaning they had already committed to a college. One opposing goalie was heading to Princeton. An attacker who made a over the shoulder, behind her head (our goalie never saw it) no look goal, reportedly committed to Syracuse in 6th grade. She was awesome.

 

 

 

 

On Monday, Em attended a clinic at Rollins College. Fifty recruits worked out and toured the school. Excellent instructions from coaches and current college players. What a neat school. Ever been to Winter Park? Hidden gem outside of Orlando.

While in Orlando, the Lady Knights played in the annual John Allen Memorial Tournament hosted by Shades Mountain Christian High School. They lost the first game to St. Bernard's Prep. On Tuesday, Em arrived home and was limited to the 4th quarter on the court due to being out with lacrosse. She still managed to contribute five points in the 41-18 victory. Now sitting at 2-4, the Lady Knights look to get on track with conference play starting next week.

 

Look for the Tide to keep on rolling. Henry is on the verge of smashing several Tide and SEC records on his way to the Heisman. Maybe the Dawgs will take care of the Wreck. Look for UD to finish off an obscene amount of sweet potato casserole. The Dores are almost bowl eligible. Really.

Turkey. Touchdowns. Thanks.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

The Sports Guy

Lady Knights, Cavaliers, Eagles, Bulldogs and Holly Holm all walk into a bar ...

Hey sportsfans!

Tuesday night the Lady Knights opened the 2015-2016 season at 6A John Carroll Catholic Cavaliers.  Playing against larger schools are always challenging, but it helps the team to prepare for the challenges later in the season against tougher teams. Playing cupcakes never help with overall team improvement. Losing to a lesser team can wipe out confidence and create team dissension.

JCC was no cupcake. With a roster full of experienced upperclassmen and several seniors, the home team came at our guys in waves. While the score was not close, this non-conference game did result in some promise.  The girls played hard until the very end. There was no quit in any of them. Several new girls saw significant playing time as everyone is learning their roles on the court. Rotating between the point and shooting guard, Em lead the team in scoring with ten points on the strength of two treys and four free-throws.

 

 

 

Congratulations to the Boys Varsity Basketball (2-0) team for their wins (58-52) over 6A powerhouse John Carroll and 1A Cornerstone. What a way to start the season! Go Knights! 

 

When they are not on the hoops court, these four seniors play a mean rendition of George Michael's classic Careless Whisper.

With Em in Baltimore at the Mid-Atlantic Showcase with XTEAM, the Lady Knights (0-2) opened their home schedule in a non-conference game against 1A Cornerstone Christians High School Eagles (0-2).  The Eagles started out hot and we did not. Our girls played hard, but came up short on the scoreboard. They hustled until the final whistle but fundamentals are lacking right now. Hopefully the girls will learn to be mentally and physically tough as the schedule progresses. A couple of the girls have some minor injuries, but more importantly, they must focus on the next games and not dwell on the losses. Mental toughness and positive attitudes must be emphasized by the team leaders. It stinks to lose, but these non-conference games do not matter in the playoff chase. Those games are coming up in a few weeks. They take on 6A Chelsea and 1A Westminster-Oak Mountain this next week.

Last weekend in Chicago, more than 750 athletes from across the country competed in the Showcase's 11th year. Teams hailed from more than ten states. Over 50 NCAA Women's Lacrosse Coaches attended, representing collegiate lacrosse programs at the Division I, II, and III levels. This week Em played in a similar event at the Mid-Atlantic Showcase in Baltimore this past weekend with her travel lax team.  College coaches in attendance. The 2017s played very well tough teams and better competition, including a tie against the #2 team in the country.

Congrats to Olivia who recently signed her letter of intent to play lacrosse at Fresno State. The Bulldogs are lucky to have such a talented athlete and scholar. We wish her the best of luck and look forward to following her college career. Liv signs.  
 

The atmosphere on Missouri's campus appear to be still in an uproar. President is out. Head coach is resigning (for health reasons).  Power of the people.  The media compares this Rousey UFC upset knockout to Holly Holm to Buster Douglas knocking out Mighty Mike Tyson in 1990. Rousey had been so dominant in her previously twelve bouts that she appeared invincible. Well, the mighty has now fallen as they always do. I'm sure a rematch is in the works. How does Greg Hardy still have a job with the Cowboys?  Are we in the middle of a resurgence in NY sports teams? None right now are embarrassing. Jets, Mets, Knicks, Yanks and Giants are all competitive right now.

More hoops games and another out of town lax tourney on the calendar. I have lots to be thankful for. Charlie Brown is part of that group. Mickey and Minnie are about to be included too.

Have a great week everyone!
The Sports Guy

Mile High City, Windy City, B'more, Mouse-town ... have game, will travel. Now that's a fish! Bama tough. Tipoff time.

Hey Sportsfans!

Em is knee deep in travel lacrosse these days with her XTEAM teammates. September training in Denver. Tournaments in Chicago, Baltimore and Orlando, all this month. Competing with  some the best talent around the country has really elevated Em's game. Shut-down defense is the goal. This past weekend in Chicago the team finished third in the high school elite division. Thanks to B and Z for the escort and photos. 

 

Recent fun excursion to the Warrior River at the Spisey Fork near the Smith Lake Dam in Walker County.  LYB caught the biggest of the day. 16" beautiful rainbow trout.

 

The Altamont Lady Knights tip off their hoops season this week. Two years ago this team was 8-8.  Last year their season ended with a stellar record of 17-6. It was the third straight season the team did not have any seniors. However, this season they are returning several seasoned veterans and mix in some new faces hoping to push them for playing time. This team will be looking to go past the sub-regional round after winning the area regular season for the 10th straight year and the area tourney last season. Em and EB will handle the backcourt, with Caroline, Katie and Molly playing the bigs. 

Some of the younger players will have to step up in a hurry if this team expects big things late in the season. First game is this Tuesday against 6A John Carroll. Two-time Alabama Mr. Basketball Ronald Steele is back at John Carroll. He was recently named the girls head coach this past summer.  His brother, Andrew, is the boys varsity coach.  Last season the girls team finished 15-9 and lost in the first round of the playoffs.   

Any team playing better defense than Bama? They held LSU to their season low in total yards and completely shutdown their premiere Heisman hopeful Fournette to 31 yards for the game. He was averaging almost 190 yds pg. Bama is putting itself in a great position for the Playoffs. Lots of football still to be played though.

Going to be an interesting week on Missouri's campus. Have you heard about this? About 30 University of Missouri football players have said they will not play another game until university President Tim Wolfe steps down. The football players said that they were standing in solidarity with the Concerned Student 1950 movement, which has for months now called on the university to seriously address systemic racism on campus. They host BYU next weekend.

Some special birthdays were recently celebrated by Lilly (9), Sam (11) and UD (a little older). A very happy b'day to LYB who will be turning even younger tomorrow.  No baseball to discuss right now. Just hope Braves mgmt. is sticking to their long range plan. Whatever that might be. I have lots to be thankful for. Not the least of which is the opportunity to take a nap of a cold, rainy weekend afternoon. Adios!

Have a great week everyone! 

The Sports Guy